David Marries Michal
Saul offers Merab to David, hoping Philistine warfare will kill him, but David answers with humility about his unworthiness. When the time comes, Merab is given to another man.
T17hen Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I need not raise my hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.” 18And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the son-in-law of the king?” 19So when it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
When Michal loves David, Saul sees a second chance to ensnare him and presses the offer through his servants. David again speaks of his poverty, and Saul sets a deadly bride-price meant to deliver him to the Philistines.
20Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him. 21“I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.” 22Then Saul ordered his servants, “Speak to David privately and tell him, ‘Behold, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become his son-in-law.’” 23But when Saul’s servants relayed these words to David, he replied, “Does it seem trivial in your sight to be the son-in-law of the king? I am a poor man and lightly esteemed.” 24And the servants told Saul what David had said. 25Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
David accepts the terms, exceeds Saul’s demand, and marries Michal. Saul then sees that the Lord is with David and that Michal loves him, so his fear hardens into settled enmity while David’s fame keeps growing.
26When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived, 27David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as payment in full to become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David in marriage. 28When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, 29he grew even more afraid of David. So from then on Saul was David’s enemy. 30Every time the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers, so that his name was highly esteemed.